Dr. Barnes is internationally recognized as an expert in the epidemiology of brain health, cognitive decline, and dementia. There are currently nearly 7 million Americans and 55 million people worldwide living with Alzheimer's disease and related dementias, and prevalence is expected to more than double by 2050. Dr. Barnes' research takes a public health approach to minimize the societal impact of dementia using a three-pronged approach: 1) identifying modifiable risk factors for cognitive impairment and dementia in older adults; 2) developing dementia prediction models that can be used to estimate the impact of risk factor reduction and to target interventions toward those who are at greatest risk; and 3) developing and testing behavioral interventions to delay onset or slow progression of cognitive impairment and dementia.

Dr. Barnes has published more than 160 peer-reviewed publications in leading journals including JAMA, NEJM, and Lancet Neurology. Her work has been supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Department of Veteran's Affairs (VA), Department of Defense (DoD), Alzheimer's Association, and private donors. She has mentored dozens of trainees including high school and undergraduate students, post-baccalaureate and graduate students, and junior faculty members.

Some highlights of Dr. Barnes' research include:

* Performing some of the earliest studies to find an association between physical activity/fitness and reduced risk of cognitive decline in older adults. Her other studies have examined the effects of mental and social activity and chronic health conditions such as depression, diabetes, and hypertension. Together, these studies suggest that many risk factors for dementia are modifiable or treatable, raising hope that risk reduction interventions could potentially lower risk of cognitive impairment and dementia in late life.

* Serving as first author of the landmark 2011 Lancet Neurology publication that first estimated that 30 to 50% of Alzheimer's and dementia cases are potentially attributable to modifiable risk factors, and that relatively small reductions in these risk factors at a societal level could potentially prevent millions of dementia cases from ever occurring. These findings have subsequently been replicated and extended by several other groups including the Lancet Commission and serve as the foundation for public health policy worldwide to reduce dementia risk. A 2022 update in JAMA Neurology also identified important dementia risk factor disparities based on race and ethnicity.

* Leading development and testing of a novel, mind-body, group movement program for people living with dementia call Preventing Loss of Independence through Exercise (PLIÉ, pronounced plee-ay). PLIÉ combines training procedural ("muscle") memory for basic daily movements with present-moment body awareness and social connection through group movement. Dr. Barnes' and colleagues have found that PLIÉ has physical, cognitive, social and emotional benefits in people with cognitive decline or dementia in community, adult day, and nursing home settings. Dr. Barnes' colleagues are currently studying implementation of a PLIÉ staff training program in VA nursing homes. In addition, Dr. Barnes co-founded a company called Together Senior Health (now owned by Linus Health) to commercialize an online version of PLIÉ called Moving Together. They also are studying a dementia risk reduction program called Brain Health Together.

* Developing and testing eRADAR (electronic health record [EHR] Risk of Alzheimer's and Dementia Assessment Rule), which uses EHR data to identify patients at risk of having undiagnosed dementia. Dr. Barnes is collaborating with Dr. Sascha Dublin at Kaiser Permanente Washington to perform an embedded, pragmatic clinical trial of eRADAR to determine whether implementation of targeted screening in primary care improves diagnosis and patient care. eRADAR was recently highlighted as one of the top innovations funded by the National Institute on Aging in the past 50 years. Dr. Barnes is also working with Linus Health to update eRADAR to include other data sources such as claims.

* Developing the Brain Health Toolkit, a public-facing toolkit that used human-centered design to create a user-friendly toolkit to increase public awareness of normal aging and dementia warning signs and provide tools for talking with doctors and tips for maintaining brain health. The toolkit is available in English and Spanish in physical and online formats.